Chapter Nineteen
Everything to Me
A week and a half later…
Deck heard Emme’s whimper as he moved his mouth from between her legs to her belly.
Slowly, he slid his tongue up her body from navel, between her breasts, to dip it in the indent of her collarbone before he buried his face in her neck.
She circled him with her arms, wrapped a leg around his thigh and lifted the other knee high, pressing it tight to his side.
An invitation.
He nipped her earlobe with his teeth.
He felt her lips press against his neck and her soft breaths there.
“Do you love me, Emme?” he whispered.
“Yes,” she breathed, writhing underneath him.
“Say it,” he ordered gruffly.
“Love you, Jacob.”
When he got the words, he slid in slowly, listening to her breaths become pants and feeling her limbs tighten around him.
She loved having him inside. All of him.
F*ck, every bit of her, sweet.
“Want you to kiss me, honey,” she murmured as he moved, sliding out slow, sliding in slower.
He lifted his head to look at her. “Taste of you, baby,” he reminded her.
“I don’t care,” she replied then lost patience. She bent her neck and took his mouth.
He let her taste him, and herself, then he took over, still moving inside and taking his time.
He kissed her as her hands moved on him.
He kept kissing her as he moved his hands on her.
It was when she broke her mouth from his, unable to take more of his tongue, that he knew she was close.
“Faster,” she gasped.
He gave her what she wanted, his fingers at her breast honing in, rolling her nipple.
“Oh God,” she whimpered, her hips jerking. “Faster, honey.”
He gave her more and started pounding deep, watching her face. Then he drove in faster just looking at it coming over her.
He saw no surprise. She was used to him giving it to her now.
F*ck, seeing that, it felt like he’d conquered a world.
He went faster.
All her limbs convulsed and she breathed, “Jacob.”
Close himself and quickly getting closer, he demanded, “Give that to me, baby.”
“Jacob!” It came out as a cry.
She was nearly there.
He put his mouth to hers. “Give it to me, Emme,” he growled, and tugged hard on her nipple.
She inhaled sharply then moaned, giving it to him.
Deck invaded her mouth with his tongue, liking the taste of her orgasm, and then he could take no more. He broke the connection of their mouths, shoved his face in her neck and thrust harder.
Faster.
Pumping inside her, her p-ssy spasming around his cock—f*cking ecstasy.
He felt her hands at either side of his head. He knew what she wanted and he lifted up to give it to her just in time to plant his hips between hers, burying his cock to the root. His head jerked back and he groaned as he poured himself inside his Emme.
As it left him, Deck dropped his forehead to her shoulder, staying deep, and felt her hands move on him but her legs stayed tight, anchoring him to her.
That was Emme, now and since they began.
During sex, she liked to be connected. After sex, she liked to stay that way.
He slid his lips up her neck and murmured in her ear, “Love you, baby.”
Her hands stopped moving so her arms could wrap around and hold tight.
“Thank you,” she whispered into his neck, and he lifted his head to grin down at her.
“Babe, you don’t have to thank me for an orgasm,” he teased but the grin froze on his face as his body froze on hers when he saw the tears in her eyes. “Emme,” he whispered.
“The orgasm…” she started but stopped when she hiccupped to swallow down a sob, the origin of which he had no f*cking clue. He dipped his face closer, lifting a hand to cup her jaw and she went on, “It was great, honey. But I’m thanking you for bringing me back to… well, me.”
F*ck yeah.
Every bit of her, sweet.
He dropped his head to hers on a groaned, “Emme.”
“I…” her body jerked under his as she tried to control her sob and her voice was croaky when she continued, “don’t know where I’d be right now without you.”
He slid his thumb to her lips and whispered, “Stop.”
“I can’t,” she whispered back, a tear sliding out of her eye. “I have to say it. You have to know. You have to know that I’d be alone, lost and alone forever, if I didn’t have you.”
He pressed his thumb against her lips and begged, “Stop it, baby.”
She wrapped her fingers around his wrist, pulling his hand away, tears streaming out the sides of her eyes, and declared, “You gave me my life back.”
F*ck.
So sweet.
“Emme—”
“You didn’t give up on me.”
“Honey—”
Her fingers tensed on his wrist. “You’re everything to me, Jacob.”
He held her bright eyes then slid his cheek down hers to warn in her ear, “Can’t take more of this sweet, Emmanuelle.”
She fell silent.
“You’re everything to me too, baby,” he told her, and felt her shake her head.
“No. You have a house and a dog and a job that challenges you. You’re close with your family. You have friends, good friends, so good they name their children after you. You have everything, including me. I have good stuff too. Now more than before, but only because of you. Because you led me to that. Stuff I held myself away from. Stuff I’d never have if I hadn’t found you. Stuff I know I’d lose if I didn’t have you.”
“You wouldn’t lose it, Emme.”
“If I lost you, I’d lose everything, Jacob. I’d fade away, alone, denying all along I was lonely.”
Jesus.
He lifted his head, locked eyes with her and told her gruffly, “You gotta believe, babe, you’re everything to me too.”
She shook her head again, opened her mouth but he cupped her cheek, thumb back to her lips, and dipped his face close.
“You’re gonna build on what you started. We’re gettin’ a puppy. You’re building a crew. You’re workin’ through shit with family. You’re gonna have everything I have, Emme. But when you get all that, that won’t mean I won’t be everything to you and that holds true for me.”
“I—” she pushed out from around his thumb, but he again pressed it to her lips.
“You’re going to give me children.”
Her eyes and mouth closed.
“You’re gonna share my bed, my home, my life, and build a family with me, Emmanuelle,” he told her, and her eyes opened, brighter now, tears again streaming. “That’s everything, baby.”
She pressed her lips together under his thumb and nodded so he slid his thumb away.
“You’re right.” She gave him a smile, it was trembling but it lit her eyes and pressed that dimple in her cheek. “That’s everything.”
He pushed his hips into hers, put his lips to hers and whispered, “Love you, Emme.”
She curled her arms around him and whispered back, “I love you too, honey.”
He slanted his head and took her mouth in a deep, searing kiss that demonstrated the words they’d just uttered.
And Emme gave back as good as she got.
* * *
Forty-five minutes later…
“Hi-yah!”
Emme attacked.
Buford barked.
Deck, walking out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel, getting attacked from behind, threw his hands behind his head. He grabbed Emme under her arms, hefted her up his back and took four strides to the bed. She squealed and Buford barked again when he bent at the waist and flipped her over on the bed. He leaned in, grasped her hips, twisted her around and dropped on top of her.
She huffed out a breath of air and blinked up at him.
Then she noted, “My instructor didn’t teach that when we were going over scenarios of what to do when being attacked from behind.”
Deck burst out laughing.
Emme had liked the idea of self-defense classes and wasted no time finding one and enrolling in it. It was held in the Community Center in Chantelle and she’d been to the first two of six weekly classes. They also did an advanced course, which she’d already signed up to take.
On the other hand, Deck had wasted no time installing her security system. Her windows were done and now Max was pulling together a bid to see to her garage. And while Deck worked on the system, Emme worked beside him, patching the walls around her wiring.
That evening, they were heading out to a ranch outside Gnaw Bone to have a look at Rottweiler puppies.
They had a plan, but better, they were wasting no time moving ahead on it together. And Deck wasn’t dragging Emme along with him.
She was beside him all the way.
This meant his laughter was heartfelt in more ways than one.
“Usually you say ‘hi-yah’ right before you break boards with a karate chop,” he informed her after he quit laughing.
“I also say ‘hi-yah’ to give my man advance warning I’m about to attack, something he apparently doesn’t need.”
He felt his brows rise. “Apparently?”
She grinned at him and stated, “Don’t think I’ll ever be able to flip someone ass over head over my head. So, first, that was awesome you doing it. Second, heads up, I’m so totally attacking and doing it repeatedly so you’ll do it again. And last, even in defeat, I’m taking this opportunity to brag that at least I took my instructor down last night on try three. Though not by flipping him over my head as he’s six one and may weigh twice as much as me.”
“Well done, Emme,” he muttered distractedly, not really listening as he was suddenly remembering he was only wearing a towel, noting she only had on his shirt, and as she always played it that way, it was doubtful she had on any panties.
“Jacob,” she called, and his eyes that had drifted to her lips, drifted up just as his hand drifted down her side.
“Yeah, baby?”
“Your oatmeal is on the kitchen counter,” she told him.
He dropped his lips to her collarbone and slid his hand up the shirt at her hip then in over her belly. “It’s too hot to eat now.”
“”Honey, we just finished,” she reminded him.
“An hour ago,” he murmured against her throat.
“I have to go to work.”
“You can be late.”
“I can’t.”
“Your dad’s the boss,” he told her jaw.
“Precisely why I can’t be late. He depends on me.”
Deck lifted his head, looked down at her and at something she saw in his face, hers changed.
And Deck liked that change.
So he grinned and murmured, “Quick.”
“Quick,” she whispered, already lifting her mouth to his.
He didn’t make her go far.
* * *
One hour later…
Deck and Buford stood in his garage watching Emme pull out.
But she stopped in the driveway, rolled down her window and stuck her head out.
“Persephone!” she yelled.
Deck smiled huge and tipped his chin up at her.
Before she left, after he’d kissed her and she climbed up in her Bronco, they’d had words about her truck’s name, now with her word being the last.
Her head disappeared but he saw she was smiling through the windshield. She waved after she turned out of his drive and before she rode away.
Yeah. Emme’s light was beaming, unrestricted.
And blinding.
Deck looked down to his dog. “How you likin’ this Emme, pal?”
Buford’s tongue lolled and his tail started wagging.
He liked her before so the point was moot.
Deck bent, gave Buford a rubdown, and as he was straightening, his phone rang.
He pulled it out of his back pocket and saw the display said “Chace calling.”
“Yo, man,” he greeted, at the same time moving toward the button that would close the garage door.
He was facing computer work that day. That afternoon, with no other options open to him as nothing was leading to anything with Prosky, staking out the high school. Then off to look at dogs.
Not a fun day, until the end.
“Where are you?” Chace asked, and his voice made Deck stop thinking about his shit day that at least would end well, and he stopped dead.
“At home. Why?” he answered.
There was nothing from Chace for a long moment before he asked, “Those prints you gave me to run, where’d you get those again?”
Deck’s blood turned cold right before it ran hot.
Not hot the way Emme made him feel.
Hot the way he felt that night Chace had told him Faye was buried alive.
“Why?” he asked back.
“Just tell me, Deck.”
“My nightstand,” Deck answered tersely and again got silence. He moved to the garage door button, hit it, the door started sliding down and he and Buford moved into the house as he pressed, “Chace. Talk to me.”
“I’m gonna preface this by sayin’, we’re on this. I’m callin’ it in to Mick and—”
“Stop f*ckin’ with me. Say it,” Deck growled.
He heard a sigh then, “Three prints you lifted and gave me to run. Yours. Those belonging to Emme, probably in the system because they were put there sometime after she was kidnapped. And Dane McFarland’s.”
Deck instantly turned on his boot and started back toward his garage.
“Deck, listen to me—” Chace began.
“Jerkoff’s been in my house,” Deck bit out.
“Man, seriously. Listen.”
He kept Buford back with a foot, entered the garage, closed the door and hit the button again for the door to go up.
“Emme was pissed, went off on one, took her shit, left,” Deck shared. “He was following her, Chace. She asked Donna to look after Buford. Donna told me the security system had not been engaged the first time she came in after Emme. He got in,” Deck told him.
He yanked the door of his truck open and swung in.
“Do not lose your cool,” Chace warned.
“There is no cool in this, Chace. That a*shole has been in my house. He took my f*ckin’ kaleidoscope.”
Chace sounded confused when he asked, “Your what?”
“My kaleidoscope. That box I kept on the mantel?” Deck asked, shoving his key in the ignition.
“Sorry, Deck, I don’t—”
“There’s a kaleidoscope in it. Emme gave it to me.”
Just turn the dial.
Deck closed his eyes.
McFarland had a piece of his Emme.
That f*cking a*shole.
He clenched his jaw and opened his eyes.
“How would McFarland know that?” Chace asked.
“How the f*ck do I know?” Deck shot back.
Truck running, he threw it in reverse, looked over his shoulder and started backing out.
“Let Mick handle this,” Chace stated.
“I will. Then I’ll handle it,” Deck returned.
“Deck—”
He hit the brakes before his truck hit the street and he focused on his steering wheel but his mind was focused somewhere else.
“He’s followin’ her.”
“You don’t know that,” Chace replied. “He could have followed you there. Stewed on it, got a wild hair, thought to f*ck with you, came back, found the security system disengaged and didn’t waste an opportunity. Then he took something that looked like it meant something to you.”
“Either way is uncool,” Deck noted.
“It is, but stand down and let Mick deal with it.”
“He gets him first. I get him after.”
“Is anything else missing?” Chace asked.
“Nothin’. Looked, that’s it,” Deck answered shortly.
“F*ckin’ with you,” Chace stated.
“So I f*ck back,” Deck returned.
“Deck, we got a case against this a*shole, do not f*ck it up for a kaleidoscope.”
Just turn the dial.
He didn’t turn the f*cking dial.
Not for a long time.
Then he did. He’d turned the dial.
You’re everything to me.
And found beauty.
“I won’t f*ck up the case,” Deck assured Chace, hitting the garage door remote, he reversed into the street.
“You’re pissed and even you pissed, your judgment can be impaired.”
“I won’t f*ck up the case,” Deck repeated, disconnected, tossed his phone on the seat beside him and hit the gas.
* * *
Five and a half hours later…
Sitting in the middle of the couch, Deck heard the door open.
He didn’t move.
Seconds later, he watched him round the corner from the entry hall into the living space of the condo.
Deck knew he’d been picked up and interviewed while the Gnaw Bone PD searched his house for a kaleidoscope they did not find. During his interview, he likely gave bullshit excuses, and with no material evidence, he was set loose.
Now he was Deck’s.
Rounding the corner, impossible to miss, Dane McFarland saw him.
“Jesus, what the f*ck?” McFarland hissed.
“Your life right now is shit,” Deck started. “Your sentence will be a nickel, you’ll do two years.”
“You can’t be in my house,” McFarland declared, taking two steps toward Deck.
Deck straightened from the couch, McFarland’s head tipped back as he did, and he stopped moving toward Deck.
“You give me back what you took from me, we’ll leave it at that,” Deck stated. “You play games with me, that time when you get out and set about puttin’ your life back together will be the time when you really begin to feel the pain.”
“I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about,” McFarland snapped.
“You know exactly what I’m talkin’ about and you got three seconds to produce it,” Deck returned.
McFarland leaned toward him. “You can’t break into my house and threaten me.”
“I can. I did. You don’t give me what’s mine, I’ll do more. You do not want to know what more I can do but I’ll give you a teaser. You will never get another job. You will never have another credit card. You’ll never own another car. You’ll never lay another woman. You’ll never find another house. You’ll never have another friend. You will be alone, broke and broken and you’ll wish like all f*ck you handed over right now what you took from me.”
“Jesus, you’re whacked,” McFarland whispered, staring up at Deck.
“I’m a man who does not like his house violated and his things stolen. Now you got three.”
“You can’t do all that shit,” McFarland retorted.
“Your ass landed in jail ’cause I got deputized and put you there. Task force investigating for six months, I had you there within days. So you’re wrong. I can do all that shit. And trust me, you don’t want to test that. Now, that’s one.”
McFarland’s eyes got big and he murmured, “That’s impossible.”
“County records will show the sheriff had a subcontract. That subcontract was me. Now, that’s two.”
“Sheriff departments don’t subcontract,” he spat.
“They did with me, and, just sayin’, I nailed you and I also got Prosky. Your boss is going down.” He leaned forward. “Now that’s three.”
He was bluffing about Prosky, trying to rattle McFarland.
It was a good bluff.
Not surprisingly, considering he was a f*cking moron, McFarland gave it away. His Adam’s apple bobbed and his eyes widened before going shifty.
They still had nothing on him, but now Deck knew the boss of that crew was Prosky.
“Give it to me, I’ll make certain no one knows you ratted out Prosky,” Deck told him.
“I didn’t rat out Jon!” McFarland cried and there it was, panic and proof.
Prosky was the leader.
“He’ll think you did, you don’t give it to me,” Deck said.
McFarland shook his head. “You can’t do that, man.”
Deck’s brows went up. “You took something that means something to me, broke into my house and took it, and you think I can’t f*ck with you?”
“It’s just a f*ckin’ kaleidoscope.” McFarland was now jittery.
There it was.
Motherf*cker.
“Emme gave it to me and I want it back,” Deck returned and McFarland’s body stilled, his lip curled and his eyes narrowed on Deck.
“I know. Followed her to your place, she didn’t lock the door, got in behind her, wanted to know why she was all fired up to jump straight to you after she got shot of me.” His sneer deepened before he finished, “Nice pool, man.”
Deck stared at him, wondering where Buford was during this scenario.
But he knew.
Buford was on the scent of strawberries.
“Saw her clutchin’ it to her chest like it was her baby,” McFarland went on. “So, yeah. I know it meant something to Emme. An Emme you f*ckin’ stole from me.”
Deck said nothing. Deck was dealing with this man following his woman, entering his home when Emme was there, and the knowledge that Emme, feeling betrayed by him, held the piece of art she gave him to her chest when she packed her shit and left his house.
But McFarland was still jittery.
“Dude, you cannot tell Jon I ratted him out. You can’t tell any of them that shit. They’re totally pissed about the ring—”
“You need to stop talking,” Deck rumbled.
McFarland took a good look at his face and snapped his mouth shut.
Deck took a breath in through his nose.
Then he ordered, “Right now, get me what you took from me.”
He immediately started looking even more jittery.
F*ck.
“I can’t,” McFarland whispered, and Deck had a feeling he knew why.
Pain seared through his chest.
His voice was low and dangerous when he asked, “Why?”
McFarland took a cautious step back before he answered, “I buried it at the bottom of your trash.”
Deck sucked in another breath, this one sharper, and McFarland took another step back.
That bin had been wheeled out five times since the kaleidoscope went missing.
It was gone.
Just turn the dial.
His eyes focused sharply on McFarland.
“Every day,” Deck whispered, “for the rest of your life, you will remember putting that kaleidoscope in the trash.”
McFarland carefully threw his hands out to the sides. “I didn’t know it was that big of a deal. It’s just a bunch of glass.”
“You knew,” Deck replied.
“I—”
“Shut up, now, or I’ll give you something else to remember.”
McFarland snapped his mouth shut.
Deck stared at him and he did this a long time, utilizing everything he had to stop himself from pounding the shit out of that… f*cking… a*shole.
Just turn the dial.
“You’re lucky I have her,” Deck stated. “Now you are gonna call Mick Shaughnessy and tell him every f*ckin’ thing you know about Jon Prosky, those robberies and anything you got involving high school kids. When you do, you are not gonna use it to bargain for a plea. You’re gonna do it simply out of civic duty.”
McFarland’s voice rose when he asked, “Why would I do shit like that?”
Deck leaned toward him and he took another step back. This one was quick.
“Because,” Deck started, “you wanna be inside. You wanna be where I cannot f*ck with you and you wanna be there for as long as you can be there. ’Cause when you get out, your years inside are gonna be your last happy memory.”
“Jesus. It was a just kaleidoscope, man,” McFarland said uneasily.
“It was her tellin’ me she needed me and me not hearin’ that shit. It was just her,” Deck gritted. “It was all I had of her for nine years, starin’ me in the face, tellin’ me she needed me. And I didn’t f*ckin’ listen, a*shole. So I wanted that piece of beauty she gave me always to be a reminder to look after my Emme. And I wanted to give it to our daughter’s husband so I could use it to educate him about lookin’ after my baby. And you took all that when you took it away from me.”
“I was… I was just pissed that you—”
“Shut… the f*ck… up,” Deck growled. “Get on the f*ckin’ phone now and call f*ckin’ Mick… Shaughnessy.”
“Prosky will f*ck me up worse,” McFarland informed him, but Deck shook his head.
“Oh no he won’t.”
“He will. That guy seems like a nice guy but he’s got a mission, man, and he’s focused. And anyone would think that mission is whacked, but you knew, you’d know it’s a good one and he’s committed to it,” McFarland shot back, now way beyond jittery.
“He might f*ck you up. But,” Deck took a long quick stride forward, lifted a hand and shoved his index finger hard in McFarland’s forehead, pushing off, and McFarland went back on a foot, “I’ll f*ck with your head. I will not stop until you have nothing and I’ll keep going until you lose the last thing you got, not that it’s worth much, your f*ckin’ mind. Now, motherf*cker, do not try me further.” He bent in, McFarland leaned back, Deck lost it and roared, “Call Shaughnessy!”
On the last syllable, they both turned to the door that they heard thrown open.
Not a second later, a scruffy, pimple-faced kid who couldn’t be older than seventeen and looked freaked right the f*ck out rushed in.
“He took a girl!” he shrieked, and Deck’s heart stopped beating.
“Wade, what the f*ck are you doing here?” McFarland shouted, eyes going back and forth between the kid and Deck.
“No, dude, no, no, no…” the kid chanted, rushing up to McFarland and grabbing his arm. “Jon’s back, dude, and it’s bad. He’s pissed. He’s pissed at everybody. And dude, he’s totally pissed at you. He’s off the freakin’ reservation. He totally has this girl! Emmitt and Bryan are totally freaked!”
“A high school girl?” Deck asked.
The kid shook his head even as he looked to Deck and asked back, “Who are you?”
Deck didn’t answer.
He clipped, “Did he take a high school kid?”
The kid looked him from top to toe and wisely decided to answer.
“No, she’s an older lady. Like, your age.”
“Her name?” Deck pushed.
“No clue,” the kid answered. “Too freaked to pay attention. I just wanted to get out of there.”
“What does she look like?” Deck asked.
“I don’t know. She was like, normal. Pretty.”
And dude, he’s totally pissed at you.
F*ck, please God, tell him, because McFarland was gagging for her, Prosky wouldn’t take Emme.
“What does she look like?” Deck repeated.
“I told you. Normal. Pretty.”
“What does she look like?” Deck barked, and both Wade and McFarland jumped.
“Brown hair, like… long. Some, like, streaks in it. She’s tall. Weird eyes—” the kid started to say fast.
F*ck. F*ck!
He had f*cking Emme.
“Where is she?” Deck bit out.
“She’s… she was at Jon’s place but he was movin’ her.” Wade looked to McFarland. “That’s how I got away. I slipped out when they were movin’ her. You gotta do somethin’, Dane. That’s whacked. You gotta talk to him. When he got intense, you were the only one who could talk to him.”
“Where are they movin’ her?” Deck asked, the kid looked at him and shrugged.
“I dunno. I got outta there.”
Deck looked at McFarland. “Where would he take her?”
“How would I know?” McFarland asked.
Deck moved and McFarland was on his back on the floor with Deck’s knee in his chest and his hand fisted in his collar.
“Where would he f*ckin’ take her?” Deck snarled.
“I don’t—” McFarland began.
“It’s f*ckin’ Emme. He’s pissed at you and he’s got f*ckin’ Emme,” Deck clipped.
“Oh f*ck,” McFarland breathed as it belatedly dawned on him, the f*cking moron.
Deck took his knee out of McFarland’s chest, lifted McFarland a foot up then slammed him back into the floor.
“Talk!” he ordered.
“Probably… we’ve got… well, this place. Off the access road a mile up Navajo in Carnal, into the hills, goin’ toward the hiking trails.”
Deck knew it so he wasted no time straightening, yanking McFarland up with him and pushing him off.
“You,” Deck pointed at McFarland. “Call Shaughnessy, report this, all of this shit, f*ckin’ everything. You,” Deck pointed at Wade then at the couch. “Sit your ass down.”
“Shaughnessy!” Wade squealed. “Like, the cop?”
“Man, I cannot call Shaughnessy,” McFarland said at the same time.
Deck pulled his gun out of the holster at his hip and both McFarland and Wade’s eyes both went to the gun and grew huge.
He pointed it at McFarland. “You, Shaughnessy.” He pointed it to Wade. “Ass. On. Couch.”
McFarland fished his phone out of his pocket.
Wade ran to the couch and planted his ass on it.
Deck breathed deep as his blood ran so f*cking hot, it was a wonder he didn’t burn inside out.
Prosky had Emme.
Just turn the dial.
Prosky had his girl.
You’re everything to me.
Emme had been taken.
I can’t go through it again, Jacob.
Deck heard McFarland’s voice saying, “Yes, this is Dane McFarland. I need to speak with Captain Shaughnessy.”
Deck holstered his gun then pointed his finger between the two of them. “You leave, he leaves before the cops get here, neither of you leave the hospital without a limp and you’ll also be leavin’ behind your balls ’cause I’m gonna cut them off and shove them down your throat. You get me?”
McFarland, phone to his ear, instantly nodded.
Wade swallowed and asked, “Seriously?”
“Confirm you get me!” Deck thundered.
“Yeah, yeah… totally,” the kid said, lifting his hands into a don’t-shoot position and shrinking into the couch.
Deck wasted not another second. He turned on his boot and left.
Sprinting down the stairs to the parking lot, his phone to his ear, Chace answered, “I don’t clean up messes. Please God, tell me you do—”
Deck cut him off tersely, “Jon Prosky has Emme.”
You’re everything to me.
F*ck!
“Where are you?” Chace asked with urgency.
“In my truck,” Deck answered, angling in. “McFarland’s turning over. He’s in his condo with a high school kid named Wade. They’ll be here when the cops get here. Now where are you?”
Just as he suspected, there was no hesitation before Chace replied.
“Wherever you need me to be.”
* * *
Emme
An hour later…
I was staring at the payroll reports when it hit me.
I needed a burrito. Badly.
I heard boots quickly coming up the wooden stairs outside my office as I reached for my cell.
Whoever it was could wait for the two minutes I needed to call Jacob and tell him Rosalinda’s was up after we picked out our Rottie. The puppy could stay in Persephone while we got takeout.
My thumb was hovering over Jacob’s name on my screen when my door smashed open.
My head flew to it and I saw Jacob standing there wearing an expression I’d seen before on two faces I loved.
My heart stopped beating.
At the look on his face, it took effort but I pushed out of my chair, opening my mouth to speak, but I got nothing out.
This was because Jacob rushed me. I got myself together to take a step back but it wasn’t fast enough. Jacob was on me and I was crushed in his arms so tight I couldn’t breathe.
I’d felt that before too.
“What’s happening?” I wheezed.
Jacob heard my wheeze, pulled back but clamped a hand on either side of my head, bending deep so his face was in mine, his eyes scanning my features.
That look in his eyes. That look I knew.
I swallowed.
“What’s happening?” I whispered.
“You been here all day, baby?” he whispered back, his voice gruff with emotion.
“Yeah, except I went to lunch at the café with Zara like I told you I was gonna do,” I answered.
His eyes closed slowly.
Then one of his hands slid to the back of my head and he yanked my face into his chest. He held me there as his other hand went to his back pocket and he pulled out his phone.
“Jacob, is everything okay?” I asked, my voice trembling.
“Yeah, baby, it’s okay.” Jacob’s voice was still gruff. “It’s all good.” Then he wasn’t talking to me when he said, “Chace. Not Emme. She’s at her office. Don’t know who he’s got but it’s not Emme.”
I felt my body go solid.
What was he talking about?
Jacob kept talking.
“Yeah, I probably should have given her a call,” Jacob said, his voice weird. This weirdness being that it seemed he was admitting to doing something stupid, something he never did, so the tone was unpracticed and didn’t sound right in his voice. “Gotta go, man. Emme heard that. Gotta explain then I’ll be back on the hunt.”
The hunt?
“Right. Later,” Jacob finished.
I planted my hands in his chest and pulled away as he shoved the phone back in his pocket.
I looked up at him. “Please tell me what’s happening.”
Both his hands settled on my neck and he bent again so our faces were close.
“For some reason, the ringleader of McFarland’s crew came back to town and lost his shit. Seein’ as McFarland’s hung up on you, when I got word that he took a woman, I made assumptions and thought it was you.” His fingers squeezed my neck. “It wasn’t you, baby, so I gotta get out there and help them find out who it is.”
I nodded, not knowing how to feel about the dire news of yet another woman being kidnapped in the county. I just knew the phantom of fear that he still held in his eyes I didn’t like all that much.
“I’m fine,” I whispered the obvious in an effort to get that look out of his eyes. “Go find whatever girl he’s got.”
He nodded but didn’t move.
“Don’t leave here until I come get you,” he ordered.
It was then I nodded. Someone was out there kidnapping people. I was totally down with that.
“Okay, honey,” I also agreed verbally.
“It gets later, you keep a man here with you until I can get to you or I’ll call Max or Ty to come get you.”
“Okay.”
He held my eyes.
“I’m fine,” I repeated softly.
“Scared as f*ckin’ shit they had you,” he replied.
This man was such a good man.
And he was my man.
On this thought, I gave him a reassuring smile and pressed my hands into his chest for good measure.
“They didn’t.”
His eyes continued to hold mine.
Then he asked, “You okay with this shit?”
Weirdly, I was. Then again, obviously, I wasn’t.
“I’m safe. I have you,” I explained the former. “But I’d really like it if you went out and helped them find whoever the bad man has.”
Again, he held my eyes.
Then he nodded, pulled me in, kissed my forehead, pushed me back, gave me a small grin and strode to the door.
After he opened it, he stopped and turned back.
“Last hour proved what I told you today was true,” he stated.
“What?” I asked.
“You’re everything to me, Emme.”
As tears hit the backs of my eyes, I swallowed as I saw in his eyes that phantom was gone but the words he just spoke were true.
Unable to say more, I said, “Right back at you, honey. Now, please go save the day.”
He jerked up his chin then said, “Love you.”
I smiled at him. “Love you too.”
I caught Jacob’s return smile before the door closed behind him and I heard quick footfalls on the wooden stairs.
I pulled in a breath and scanned my emotions, searching for fear or the urge to retreat.
All I found was hope that Jacob and the men out looking for her found the girl who was missing so she would no longer be missing and therefore feeling the things I knew she was feeling.
And also that he did it in time for us to get our puppy and pick up burritos.
Epilogue
Doing It for Free
Seven and a half hours later…
“Babe, seriously,” Jacob said, and I looked at him.
“She’s just a puppy,” I told him something he knew.
“Yeah, but she’s just a Rottweiler puppy,” he returned. “You don’t let puppies chew your fingers. Rotties, you don’t give any indication at any time it’s okay to sink their teeth in flesh.”
He had a point.
I extracted my fingers from Josephine’s jaws and gave her head a rub.
She looked at me, went for the fingers I’d pulled away, gave up quickly, bounced up Jacob’s chest and attacked his jaw.
It was after puppy adoption, burrito pickup and consumption, and a weird day that started great, went wonky and ended fabulously.
We were lying on the couch in Jacob’s great room. Jacob was on his back, me tucked to his side, Buford on the floor by the couch, our new rambunctious puppy frolicking on Jacob’s massive chest.
Once his jaw was attacked, Jacob moved. Josephine and I were forced to move with him, Josephine mostly because he picked her up and put her on the floor.
Undeterred, she attacked Buford’s floppy ear.
Buford turned beleaguered eyes to Jacob, eyes that turned beleaguered about a nanosecond after Josephine was introduced and had stayed that way.
I fought back a grin.
Jacob gently pushed Josephine off his hound. Demonstrating she might have puppy ADHD, she instantly lost interest in Buford and attacked the rug.
I started giggling.
Jacob lay back on a sigh and curled me into him.
“So, okay,” I began, and Jacob stopped watching our new puppy growling and attempting to find purchase with her teeth on the edge of his rug and looked at me. “Sock it to me,” I invited.
Needless to say, since we got a puppy and I got my burritos, the girl had been saved and the bad guys were behind bars. But I had yet to get the full story.
“F*ckin’ nuts, but now knowin’ the whole story, it isn’t that interesting,” Jacob told me.
“For mysterious crimefighters, maybe not,” I replied, “For average citizens like me, I’m thinking it’ll be all kinds of interesting.”
Jacob grinned, curled me closer, pulling me partially over his chest and his hand dipped under my sweater to make lazy circles on my skin.
That felt really nice.
He started talking. “Jon Prosky’s Mom has chronic progressive MS.”
I stopped thinking how nice his fingers felt at my back and whispered, “Oh my God, that sucks.”
“Yeah,” he agreed. “Sucks more, she doesn’t have any insurance or a husband. When she started gettin’ bad, he couldn’t deal. He took off a couple of years ago. What she did have was a son who loved her way too f*ckin’ much.”
“Uh-oh,” I mumbled, guessing what would come next.
“Yeah,” Jacob again agreed. “He loved her, a lot of people loved her, but only he got desperate. But then, with the dad gone and no siblings, he was up. He’s also, if you can believe this shit, a seemingly nice guy who did desperate shit that was also illegal shit and convinced himself along the way it was for a cause that was just. Made matters worse he convinced a pack of high school kids the same thing.”
I knew something about nice people being moved by extreme circumstances to do extreme things but I wisely kept my mouth shut on that score and asked, “How did he do that?”
Jacob rolled to his side, wrapped his other arm around me and tangled his legs with mine.
That felt nice too.
“Bills started piling up,” he explained. “Avenues for payin’ them started dryin’ up, and Prosky knew two things. One, he needed money. And two, he needed to be free to take care of his mom as things progressed.”
I nodded when he paused and he continued.
“So he needed to recruit a crew to do the dirty work. He did that and took pains to be certain he was not connected with any of them. Finding the drug dealer wasn’t hard. Convincing him to commit felonious acts was even less hard, seein’ as the guy would get his cut.”
“How did high school kids get involved?” I asked.
“The brainstorm came when he found out the dealer was dating a teacher,” Jacob answered. “Prosky, being nice and having a mission, unfortunately also has natural charisma, and there’s no denyin’ he loves his mom. He conceived this plan, the drug dealer, his girlfriend, a teacher, her brother, another teacher and their brother, McFarland were recruited on greed alone. The kids were recruited to keep all their hands clean. He convinced the kids they were doing something worthwhile, saving a life. The teachers pinpointed the kids to approach and made preliminary connections. The dealer was the trainer, since he’d had some B&E’s in his past, and enforcer in case they got out of hand or balked. McFarland was the good guy to the dealer’s bad guy, keeping the kids from freaking. He also did most of the fencing. Prosky was the spiritual leader, keeping them on target.”
“So did the kid who committed suicide think the dealer was going to hurt him?” I asked, and Jacob shook his head.
“No clue. He didn’t leave a note. But his buds were all brought in when McFarland and Wade started spilling and they talked. They said it was more likely he was devastated that he might have disappointed Prosky and his mom. Part of the recruitment process was to meet her, see what that disease was doing to her, how money could help and he thought he f*cked it all up. Kids that age get overemotional about a lot of shit. Prosky manipulated that, got them all worked up, feelin’ they were doin’ good deeds and screwin’ that pooch would f*ck with their head. It f*cked with that kid’s head. Then again, for any of these kids to be willin’ to do his shit, they were all borderline anyway, something the teachers knew. They went over the edge just committing robberies. It wouldn’t take more to tip shit further.”
That made sense. It was whacked, sad sense but it was sense.
But one thing didn’t make sense.
“What was with the girl today?” I queried.
“The girl was McFarland’s brother’s girlfriend. The deal was no one outside the team knew shit about anything. After he got arrested, so he wouldn’t lose her, this guy talked to his woman to explain their mission, giving her the line they were doing bad things for good reasons. She didn’t give a shit about some woman she didn’t know in Denver who unfortunately has MS. She gave a shit that her man was going to spend the next at least two years honing his skills to become an ex-con, one who couldn’t get out and get a job that had shit to do with his degree. She was making rumblings of talking to the cops about a deal so her man’s sentence would be reduced, or even, since according to her his hands weren’t that dirty, get immunity and not do time at all.”
I didn’t like the idea of a bad teacher getting off that lightly, but I could understand her concerns.
Jacob kept talking.
“Prosky didn’t give a shit about all of them going down. They got arrested, he hauled his ass to Denver, didn’t look back and was already setting up another crew. What he couldn’t have was him going down. There would be no one not only to pay for his mother’s care but also no one to care for her as that disease took its course.”
“So he took this woman to scare her? Shut her up?” I asked, and Jacob nodded.
“Desperate act. Then again, it all was, the disease wasn’t going to quit, which means the acts would get more desperate so he was going to screw up eventually.”
“How did he use the money to pay for stuff and not have it traced back to the robberies?” I went on.
“Like I said, he’s likable. His mother, though, is beloved. Apparently an amazing woman, lots of friends. As the disease progressed, they did what they could but only so much folks can do. They had fundraising events and people ran races for her, shit like that. But her care ate all that up, and kept going. People have their own lives and they can give selflessly but they can’t do it for eternity. So, given the opportunity to do more without it coming from their pockets or sweat, they did it. It didn’t take much for Prosky to talk them into saying they gave a gift for her care, and as it was cash, it couldn’t be traced. That said, when DPD officers went out to have chats after we got Prosky this afternoon, several of them ’fessed up. But they did it expressing concern for Prosky and his mom.”
All this was sad, lives destroyed, a young man was dead and a woman would now face a bitter battle with a disease with no one at her side.
Part of me got why Prosky did what he did. That didn’t mean I condoned it. Too much was lost, even if what he was trying to gain was honorable.
The rest of me just hoped myself or no one I knew faced the same kind of tragedy.
Jacob’s words took me out of my thoughts.
“You okay with all this, honey?”
I focused on him as my body melted into his.
He was such a good guy.
And he so totally loved me.
“I’m okay,” I assured.
“Brings up bad shit for you,” he reminded me, scanning my face, looking for indications I’d inadvertently taught him to search for when it came to me. Hiding fear. Burying things. Preparing to retreat.
“I’m not happy someone got kidnapped,” I shared, and his arms around me got tight. “But I’m here, with you, Buford and Josephine. I’m full of good burritos. And I’m learning how to count my blessings instead of fear they’ll be swept away from me. So I’m good, outside of not being real happy you spent time today thinking I wouldn’t be.”
I got another squeeze on his, “I’m fine, Emme.”
It was my turn to search his features to make sure he was what he said.
And he looked okay to me. Well, not okay. Handsome, intent and sweet, but that was his norm so that was okay.
It was time to move us on.
Not to bury it.
Just to move past it.
In order to do that, I asked, “You know what all this means?”
“I know what all this means to me, that this guy was completely f*cked in the head,” Jacob answered, and I grinned but shook my head.
“What all this means is that it lays testimony to the blatant fact we need socialized medical care,” I announced.
Jacob stared at me.
Then he moved his eyes to the ceiling and stared at it.
“Admit it, I’m not wrong,” I pushed.
At that, Jacob angled up, taking me with him. The move was so sudden, I cried out and latched on. We were front to front with my hands clutching his shoulders and my legs wrapped around his hips when he started walking.
Toward the French doors.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
Jacob didn’t answer. He kept walking then dipped down to open the door.
Out we went with me crying, “Jacob! What are you—?”
I didn’t get it all out. He made it to the edge of the pool, pulled me from his body even as I tried to keep hold and easily tossed me right into the water.
Fully clothed.
I came up spluttering, pulling my hair from my face and shouting, “Are you insane?”
Standing at the side of the pool, hands on hips, smiling, Jacob declared, “Just sayin’, anytime you mention socializing medical care, you get tossed in the drink.”
“You are insane!” I yelled, swiping an arm across the water in hopes of splashing him but I was too far away and thus failed.
He kept smiling.
Then he yanked his shirt over his head and I watched with some awe as he bent his knees and took off. His long straight body knifing through the air, it sliced into the water as he executed a perfect dive.
God. He could even dive perfectly.
In jeans.
Or maybe it was perfect because it was hot he was doing it in jeans.
Or maybe it was just hot because he was joining me.
I treaded water as he swam under it and came up in front of me, wrapping an arm around my waist and pulling me to him as he did.
I again grabbed his shoulders and wrapped my legs around his hips.
“I’m glad we’re moving to my house,” I announced. “I don’t have a pool so when you don’t want to concede a valid, and I’ll just note, accurate point, you can’t toss me into it.”
“Emme,” he said.
“What?” I snapped.
“Take off your sweater,” he ordered.
I watched his face in the tranquil, revolving colors of the pool lights and noticed my man was not in the mood to discuss political ideology.
Suddenly, I wasn’t either.
So I pulled off my sweater.
* * *
An hour later…
Jacob powering inside me, my back to the wall of the pool, my face in his neck, our soggy clothes strewn around the pool deck, my legs wrapped around his hips, he stated, “This summer, we’re puttin’ a pool in at your place, south side.”
“Okay,” I breathed instantly.
“And we’re not namin’ our puppy Josephine.”
He kept powering up as I pulled my face out of his neck in order to look at him.
“What?”
He rammed in, I whimpered, he stopped so I whimpered again.
“We’re namin’ her Daisy Mae.”
I felt my eyes get wide as my legs quivered and I repeated my question from earlier, “Are you insane?”
“Nope.”
“A Rottie,” he stroked, I stopped talking, he did it again and stayed planted so I kept going, “is,” he pulled out then drove up again, I bit my lip then powered on, “a noble breed. We can’t name a noble dog Daisy Mae.”
He ground up and that felt so good my hand slid into his wet hair and fisted.
“Josephine doesn’t go with Buford,” he told me.
“So?” I asked.
Keeping one arm around me, his other hand slid over my belly, down and in.
Then his thumb hit me.
My head fell back and my entire body quivered.
“She’s Daisy Mae,” Jacob declared.
“Please move,” I whispered.
“I will, you agree she’s Daisy Mae.”
He was. He was totally insane.
Or he was intent on driving me that way.
I righted my head. “That’s not fair.”
His thumb twitched and I moaned.
“Daisy Mae,” he repeated.
“Ja—”
His thumb slid away and my eyes went wide as my arms and legs tensed around him.
“Jacob!”
“What’s our dog’s name?”
“Please move,” I begged. “And I want your thumb back. We’ll talk about this later.”
His lips came to mine, they were curved up and his eyes were dancing. There was something about having Jacob buried deep inside me, the warm waters of a pool lapping around our naked bodies, and his eyes dancing with humor that was completely and totally amazing. A moment to remember. Forever.
Have mercy.
“Say it. Daisy Mae,” he ordered.
“Right. Okay. Whatever. We can insult her by calling her Daisy Mae.”
His smiling mouth took mine, his tongue sliding inside, as his thumb honed in and he surged out then up, again planting himself deep but this time doing it without stopping.
I forgot about Daisy Mae.
I forgot about everything.
And it would be fifteen glorious minutes before rational thought came back and it occurred to me I didn’t really care our puppy was called Daisy Mae. That was actually kind of cute.
And more, I was super happy we were putting in a pool at my place.
But I was never going to tell Jacob that I hoped it was heated.
* * *
Thirteen months later…
The door opened and I saw my dad stick his head in.
He jerked his chin up.
I grinned at him then looked across the room to see Faye, as planned, had my mother’s undivided attention.
Mom would freak if she knew what I was doing.
When my sister got married, she’d done the same thing.
Mom and Dad let their kids live their lives but when it came to their weddings, they stepped in, or I should say Mom stepped in, and demanded tradition. A church. A white or, if necessary (as I deemed it was), ivory gown. A reception line. Formal photographs. Proper speeches. And Jacob had been told in no uncertain terms that if he shoved his piece of wedding cake all over my mouth, Mom was confiscating his snowmobile.
Last, and most important, the groom didn’t see the bride before the wedding.
Therefore, I’d spent the night at Jacob and my house, Jacob spent his at Chace and Faye’s since he sold his place when he’d moved into mine six months ago.
But I had something I needed to do.
And I was going to do it.
Lifting my skirt in my hand, I hustled to the door.
Dad and Krys were outside when I got through.
Krystal was carrying a wooden box I’d dropped by Bubba’s a few days earlier. She was also smiling.
Dad was deep breathing.
“My baby girl,” he whispered.
I looked up to him, saw the bright mixed with admiration in his eyes and grinned.
“Do I look okay?” I asked, throwing out an arm.
He nodded, his throat visibly convulsing.
My grin became a smile. I wrapped my arms around him and got up on my toes to kiss his cheek.
He gave me a hug and let me go, whereupon he gave me a shaky smile so I leaned in to give him another kiss on the cheek.
After the kiss, I whispered, “Love you, Daddy.”
“Love you too, my precious baby,” he whispered back. “Also love that today I’m givin’ you to a good man who’ll see to you.”
I drew in breath.
“Or maybe I don’t love it,” Dad went on. “But at least I can live with it.”
At his words, I gave him a squeeze and another smile.
Then I turned to Krys.
She handed me the box.
I wasted no more time since I didn’t have any and ducked out the side door. Carefully, on my fabulous and fabulously expensive ivory heels, I dashed around the back of the church and went in the door on the other side.
Chace and Rich were waiting for me.
“Is he alone?” I asked Chace.
“Yeah, Emme,” he answered, looking me up and down then his gaze came to mine. Without further ado and absolutely no warning (except the intense look in his eyes), he proceeded to blow me away. He did this by whispering, “Love this, honey. I couldn’t build a better you for my boy.”
At his words, my heart skipped a beat and I had to let go of my skirt and put a hand to the wall to stay standing.
“That means a lot,” I whispered, and it did. From Chace, it definitely did.
“I know,” he replied.
I pulled in breath, and if I kept doing that, I was likely to pass out.
“Darlin’, you gotta hurry,” Rich said, and I looked to him. “You’re both at the church on time but it’s also kinda important for you to be in the sanctuary on time.”
“Right,” I mumbled, and he smiled at me.
Then he bent in to give me a peck on the cheek.
When he was done, I looked between the men, giving them a grin.
Then I went to the door they were guarding to keep visitors at bay. I lifted a hand and knocked.
“Yo!” I heard Jacob call, and that set my lips to again curving.
I turned the knob, put my hands behind my back to hide the box, and walked in. Closing the door with my foot, I saw Jacob standing in front of a mirror tying a dove gray tie.
Dark suit that fit perfectly. Dove gray tie. Charcoal gray vest. Ivory rose in his lapel.
God, he was beautiful.
Suddenly, I understood why a bride didn’t see her groom before the wedding. Because if she saw him in all his splendor, she might not be able to fight back the urge to jump him and consummate the marriage precipitously, forcing everyone to wait to get to the buffet.
Luckily, Jacob and I had done that, repeatedly, and we didn’t have time to do it again, so I was able to fight that urge.
Barely.
His eyes in the mirror came to me and his hands stopped moving.
“Hey,” I greeted.
Slowly, he turned. As he did, his gaze was moving all over me but he said nothing.
Then he said something.
“Didn’t know you could get more beautiful.”
Tears hit my throat and so I wouldn’t dissolve in a puddle of goo, or alternately messy sobs that would destroy my makeup, I quipped, “I aim to please.”
“You excel at that, baby.”
God, he wasn’t making this easy.
He was making it beautiful, but he wasn’t making it easy.
To get past that, I had to suck in a breath through my nose.
“You wanna make out before we get hitched, kinda hard to do with you across the room,” Jacob remarked, and finally I grinned.
“You can’t tell Mom I’m here,” I told him as I started his way.
“I’m more likely to share government secrets with terrorists than tell your mother that,” he told me, and I giggled as I stopped two feet in front of him.
Suffice it to say, Jacob wasn’t a big fan of tradition when it came with being forced to sleep in a whole different town than me, pre-wedding or not. But Mom put her foot down in a way neither Jacob nor I could deny.
That still didn’t mean he was happy about it.
“Hopefully, it won’t come to that,” I replied, and Jacob’s focus intensified on me.
Or, more accurately, the fact that I stopped two feet away.
“Emme, baby, I’m supposed to step in a church in five minutes and I don’t think you’re supposed to be on my arm when I do that. You wanna clue me in why you’re here?”
I pulled the box from around my back and lifted it up between us.
His eyes dropped to it and his body went completely still.
He’d told me about what Dane had done with his kaleidoscope.
It creeped me way the hell out that Dane was following me, so I decided to discuss that with my therapist and find a way to let it go. And I did that.
It hurt way too much to think of Jacob’s kaleidoscope dumped out with the trash.
I didn’t discuss that with my therapist, though.
I did something about it.
“I went back to the store where I bought it, but it’s now a dry cleaners,” I shared. Jacob’s eyes didn’t leave the box but I kept going. “So I asked Chace if he could help. Chace knows some woman in Denver who’s good at finding stuff out and she got the number of the old owners of the shop. She called them and found out who made the kaleidoscopes.”
Slowly, Jacob’s eyes came to me and what I saw in them made my throat close and my nose sting with tears.
I swallowed and my voice was husky when I went on.
“She called that guy and he agreed to meet me. He’s eighty-three and quit making them a few years ago. But when I told him our story,” I moved the box toward him and finished, “he made this for you and me.”
Jacob didn’t move. Not for a long time.
I knew why and it was sweet. Very sweet.
But we were imminently getting married. I needed to move this along.
So I called, “Honey?”
He finally moved. His eyes and hands going to the box, he took it, flipped it open, and I heard his indrawn breath when he saw what was inside.
The old guy outdid himself. The last kaleidoscope was a thing of beauty.
This one could easily be declared a miracle.
I watched, deep breathing, as Jacob pulled it out, set the box aside and turned it around in his hands like it was the world’s most precious entity.
And this time, unlike the last, I knew.
I’d had glorious months and months of knowing that those hands moving on me made me feel l just as precious.
“Do you like it?” I whispered, and his eyes shot to mine.
He said nothing.
He didn’t have to.
Staring into his eyes, they said it all.
My breath hitched.
“You best go back to your mother, honey,” he murmured.
“Yeah,” I agreed softly.
Neither of us moved.
“Go, Emme, or the wedding’s gonna be delayed an indefinite amount of time and your hair is not gonna look like that when you stand up in the sanctuary,” he stated.
My hair was in an elegant updo à la Dominic (another Mom decree). It took two hours to achieve.
Mom’s head would likely split down the middle if I had sex hair for my wedding.
In other words, that got me moving.
I nodded but I couldn’t help it. Not in that moment. Not because, in five minutes, we were about to begin building our lives legally, spiritually, emotionally and indelibly connected.
Not after the way Jacob had just looked at me.
So I took my chances, leaned into him, put a hand on his chest, got up on my toes and tipped back my head.
Jacob didn’t touch me but he did bend his neck and give me his mouth.
I pressed my lips to his.
His tongue slid out, my mouth opened, and he gave me a light stroke that felt amazing and tasted unbelievably sweet.
When he was done, against my lips, he whispered, “Go, baby.”
I nodded, my nose sliding against his as I did, and pulled back. I gave him a trembling smile and headed to the door.
“Emmanuelle?” he called when I had my hand on the knob.
I turned to him.
“When we get to the Brown Palace tonight and you see the box the staff are putting on your nightstand for me, I’ll tell you the story about how I tracked down an old guy and told him what I wanted. I’ll also tell you how, until about two minutes ago, I thought he was a total whackjob when he laughed for five minutes before agreeing to make you a kaleidoscope and insisting on doing it for free.”
My hand went from the knob to lay flat on the door as my knees went weak, my heart slid into my throat and the vision of Jacob started swimming.
“Go, baby,” Jacob urged gently.
Hearing his gentle words, seeing his tall frame, it would only be Jacob who could look beautiful even through tears.
“I really, really, really like you, Jacob Decker,” I whispered.
“I know,” he whispered back.
The smile I sent him was seriously trembling before I dashed out the door.
* * *
Deck
Putting the kaleidoscope to his eye, pointing it at the window, Deck turned the dials and his vision was accosted with nothing but beauty.
It was extraordinary to witness.
But by then he was used to it as he had it every day.
As the lights and colors danced, he heard a sharp knock on the door before he heard Chace calling, “Deck. It’s time.”
Deck watched the miraculous dance Emme gave him another long moment before he took the kaleidoscope from his eye, carefully laid it in its box and closed the lid.
He moved to the door and he did this ignoring Chace grinning huge at the box.
He didn’t have time for that shit.
It was time to marry his Emme.
* * *
Harvey
Three years, two months later…
Harvey Feldman moved through the grocery store, his mind on other things, so when he found himself in the aisle with the magazines, an aisle he never needed anything in, he was surprised.
This was happening with more and more frequency.
Then again, he was getting old.
He focused on his list then started moving down the aisle quickly in order to get what he needed and get home.
Now focused, it was a flat miracle that he turned his head and his attention caught on something he would never normally look at, and even if he did, he wouldn’t see.
But since it was a miracle, he saw it.
A magazine on architecture, the cover an aerial shot of a very large home in the mountains with a sweeping front drive, a gracious pool to the left and a lush terraced garden at the back.
At the top of the sidebar, the magazine noted, “Mountain Gem Restored: How the Canard Mansion was brought back to life.”
Harvey stopped and stared at the picture, the words, then he snatched up the magazine, threw it in his cart and whizzed through the aisles, getting the bare necessities, paying for them and getting home.
He left the groceries in the car and took only the magazine with him when he went into his house. He didn’t delay in sitting at his kitchen table and flipping it open, slapping page after page aside until he stopped and caught his breath.
Slowly now, with utter care, he moved through the pages of the article.
Then he went back.
Then he flipped the pages again, slower, studying the pictures.
And finally, he allowed himself to go back.
The title of the article and photo spread was at the top of a full-color, full-page picture. But Harvey didn’t look at the title.
Instead, he looked at the picture of the man, woman, child and dogs standing among the gleaming wood and dazzling crystal of an extraordinary, regal entryway.
Emme and her man, standing close, sides tucked tight. His arm was around her shoulders. His other arm was tucked under the tush of a dark-haired toddler who was straddling his side. A hound was sitting on his behind, resting against the leg of Emme’s man. A Rottweiler was sitting by Emme’s leg but the dog wasn’t leaning into her, though it was close.
Jacob Decker had on jeans and a nice tailored shirt.
But he needed a haircut.
Emme Decker had on a stylish but casual dress that went to her ankles and fit close to her body. She also was wearing high-heeled sandals that were even more stylish than the dress.
And last, the dress didn’t disguise the fact that she was more than a little pregnant.
They looked perfect together. Strangely perfect in that they looked like they belonged in the mountains, with the healthy glow of their tans, their dogs and Decker’s jeans (and need for a haircut), but they were standing in a majestic entry, the kind that would launch a million dreams.
Then again, they looked like they belonged there too.
Harvey looked down to the bottom of the picture to read the caption.
Jacob and Emmanuelle Decker, with their son Chace and dogs Buford and Daisy Mae in the famous starburst entry that they stunningly refurbished in the Canard Mansion in Gnaw Bone, Colorado.
Harvey’s eyes went back to Emme to see her smiling, carefree and bright, at the camera.
So bright, it was nearly blinding.
He took one last long look, closed the magazine and finally, finally, he felt it.
Redeemed.
He looked to the ceiling.
Then he whispered, “Thank you.”
After that, he went out to get his groceries.
* * *
Deck
“That is not gonna happen,” Emme declared, and Deck turned his head from watching Chace in his highchair somewhat eating, mostly throwing his food to the black-and-white-diamond-tiled floor, and looked at his wife who was standing in front of her six-burner Viking range.
“I didn’t say it was going to happen tomorrow,” he told her, fighting a grin.
“Of course it isn’t going to happen tomorrow. He’s not even two. But I’ll just point out, honey, it’s not going to happen ever,” she retorted.
“Yeah it is. I’m thinking when he’s twelve,” Deck replied.
She threw up her hands. One had a wooden spoon in it that luckily, with the force of her action, was clean.
“It’s not happening at all!”
Daisy Mae, lying on her belly four feet from Emme, picked up her head and looked at her mistress. Always on the alert, even as often as this happened.
Buford, on the other hand, with more experience, was moving around under Chace and Deck, cleaning up Chace’s mess.
“It’s just a BB gun,” Deck stated.
“I don’t care if it’s just a BB gun. A gun’s a gun!” she shot back.
“No one can get hurt with a BB gun,” he declared, her eyes got huge and she was so damned cute, he was finding it harder to fight his smile.
“No one… no… no one…” she spluttered. Then she slammed her fists on her hips, which wasn’t easy to do with a spoon in her hand and their baby daughter who would come into this world in about a month taking most of the space of her middle, and she hissed, “Haven’t you seen A Christmas Story?”
At this ridiculous question, Deck stared at his wife.
She was very pissed, very pregnant, very beautiful, and very cute. She was also standing in her expensive, flawless kitchen in their rambling no-longer-a-wreck mansion with her dog at her side, her son throwing food and her man in her sights.
He took all that in, he did it for a good long while and he enjoyed every second as he realized, with Emme, the kaleidoscope that was their life just kept on spinning.
Then he burst out laughing.
About the Author
Kristen Ashley grew up in Brownsburg, Indiana, and has lived in Denver, Colorado, and the West Country of England. Thus she has been blessed to have friends and family around the globe. Her posse is loopy (to say the least), but loopy is good when you want to write.
Kristen was raised in a house with a large and multigenerational family. They lived on a very small farm in a small town in the heartland, and Kristen grew up listening to the strains of Glenn Miller, the Everly Brothers, REO Speedwagon, and Whitesnake.
Needless to say, growing up in a house full of music and love was a good way to grow up.
And as she keeps growing up, it keeps getting better.
You can learn more at:
KristenAshley.net
Twitter@KristenAshley68
Facebook.com
For Nina Sheridan, a desperately needed vacation turns into the biggest risk of her life…
See the next page for an excerpt from
The Gamble.